Keyways and Slots in the Shaper:

[Antman]

Hi Guys,
If someone who knows even a little about machining, and they ask me about my workshop and I tell them about my shaper, they invariably say, “Oh a shaper, for cutting keyways”. Well, I’ve done some nice things on my shaper, my best so far is a pair of dovetails for a more versatile topslide for the lathe I haven’t quite thoughted out yet. I did try make a tool but the bit just skipped over the workpiece when I tried to make a slot like you find in a faceplate. Could someone please post a pic or a link of what a shaper slotting tool looks like and some tips how to use it. Also do need 3 bits for the 2 walls and the floor of the slot?
Thanks again,
Ant

 

[djc]

...Could someone please post a pic or a link of what a shaper slotting tool looks like and some tips how to use it.

If you google 'shaper keyway', useful results are entitled

tool holders for cutting keyways on a shaper - YouTube
How to cut key ways in a Shaper - The Home Shop Machinist
From the Shop: Keyways on the Shaper
Poor Man's Keyway Slotter
The Home Machinist! View topic - Internal keyways using a shaper

A couple of others:

Metal Working Related Links and Pages from http://www.neme-s.org/
http://www.artfulbodger.net/docs/shaper/index.html

 

[steamer]

In my case they are round shanked for mounting in the ram, and are cut halfway, D-shaped

I then put some positive rake on the nose so it will tend to spring away less.

On a true shaper, it will look like a lathe parting tool, but with front AND side rake.

Dave

 

[Antman]

Thanks, Dave for the advice about the shape of the tool bit. And thanks DJC. I didn’t think of YouTube as a source of machining info. However about the only useful stuff I have found out so far is to cut the keyway upwards to circumvent the clapping action. I wil carry on with Google.
Ant